London Tube suspect shot dead

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London's Metropolitian police released images appealing for public support in locating these men.Photo: Metropolitan Police

A plainclothes policeman yesterday shot dead a man on the London
Underground who was believed to be linked to the attempted bombings
in the British capital on Thursday.

Police released photographs of four men suspected of launching
the second wave of terrorist attacks on London's transport system -
and confirmed similarities to the bombings on July 7 that killed 52
commuters.

Before horrified onlookers in a train at Stockwell station in
south London, policemen chased the man into a carriage, pushed him
to the floor and one of them shot him five times, according to an
eyewitness.

Mark Whitby, a passenger on the train, told the BBC that he
heard "lots of shouting, 'Get down! Get down!' " then "a man jumped
onto the train hotly pursued by plainclothes officers".

"He looked left and right, he looked like a cornered rabbit, a
cornered fox, he looked absolutely petrified. I saw the gun being
fired five times into the guy. They held him down and unloaded five
shots into him."

Mr Whitby said the young East Asian-looking man, who wore a
baseball cap and a thick coat - inappropriate in summer - half
tripped and was half pushed by the officers to the floor of the
carriage.

Passengers fled the Stockwell station. "I have never seen people
run so fast in all my life," Mr Whitby said.

Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said the shooting was linked
to the ongoing anti-terrorism operation.

"The man was challenged and refused to obey police
instructions," he said.

The photos showed one man, wearing a dark shirt with "New York"
across the front, running through a subway station. Another was
shown on the top of a double-decker bus, while the other two men
were shown at separate subway stations.

Sir Ian, who is Britain's most senior police officer, told a
news conference that his force was facing its "greatest operational
challenge ever".

Services on the Northern and Victoria lines, which run through
Stockwell, were cancelled. Surrounding roads were closed.

Armed police briefly surrounded a mosque in east London and told
residents to stay indoors after a bomb threat on the mosque was
received.

Late yesterday police told residents around Harrow Road in west
London to stay off the streets.

A witness said he saw remote-controlled trucks that he thought
were used by bomb disposal units. "There's what looks like a bomb
disposal-type vehicle, armoured, and there's several armed officers
around it," Houst Monfaradi told BBC television. He said there was
a huge police presence in the area.

On Thursday, four would-be suicide bombers, at least three
carrying bombs in rucksacks, attacked three London tube stations
and a bus. They detonated their devices almost simultaneously, at
points north, south, east and west of the city.

But this time the bombs failed to go off, no one was killed and
police said the devices may hand them a "forensic goldmine" of
clues to the bombers' identity and connections.

All four men got away, however, and police began a huge hunt for
the terrorists. Thursday's bombs were of similar size to the
previous attacks.

In all four incidents the detonators failed to ignite the
explosives - suggesting they came from a single source.

Witnesses said they saw a man lying across a rucksack that had
failed to properly explode, while another man shouted in disbelief
when his device failed to detonate, then fled.

The bombers struck at about 12.30pm, triggering their devices
roughly in unison at Warren Street, Shepherds Bush and the Oval
stations, and on the No. 26 bus in Hackney.

Witnesses at the Oval station said one of the terrorists was
standing beside a woman holding a baby when he tried to detonate
his bomb.

Upstairs in the station, passenger Paul Martin saw "a guy being
chased. It was completely crazy. People were trying to drop him, to
rugby tackle him."

Hugues Caillat said he saw "a guy coming from the stairs" with a
crowd of people, including the station flower seller, running after
him. "The guy said something like, 'What's wrong with these
people?' He was a skinny Asian guy with a little beard. He was
about 19."

The bombings are taking their toll on the city. Hundreds of
train drivers could refuse to work if there are more attacks,
Britain's largest rail union warned. Retailers reported lower
activity yesterday too.

· An Indian court yesterday jailed a man for seven years
for plotting to crash jets in London on September 11, 2001.

Mohammed Afroze also confessed to plotting with al-Qaeda to
attack Melbourne's Rialto building and the Indian parliament in
2001.